User:Nickb123/manchester

From Lostpedia

Where to start? Just got back from college (yeah I know, had to do that after trapsing Manchester - all in a day's work of course). Below is my account of the whole day, as I read a gal's story about getting an Apollo bar and really appreciated knowing what went on. Ixalon and his girlfriend are still having a day out in Manchester (they deserve it after the day they've had) so I guess its up to me to shed some light on quite frankly a very bizarre day. Pictures will follow of all the clues but you'll have to give me some time on it. Finally, pay close attention to the people I detail, some are important.

Contents 1 Start 2 Consideration 3 The Old Man 4 Lost in the museum? 5 The Other Girl

Start

I arrived in Chinatown about 11:40. My sis was going to uni to see her lecturer, so dropped me off on the way. So there was me with like 20 minutes to kill in the pouring rain. I noticed other fans hanging around the area (they stood out) but didn't really wanna go up to them (and say what "hi you a lostie?" - imagine if they weren't!!!). I did notice a few odd people though, a man and a few girls, hearing him say "well there does seem to be a few". TPTB I thought, and I'm sure they noticed me staring at them as they walked by (one girl I thought might have been Other Girl too, I dunno, it was just the way she was). After a little while I thought I should communicate with the people, mainly cause I was bored by myself. And who should the person I speak to happen to be? Ixalon aka Chris!!! He was the only person other than myself I knew was coming, so was happy to meet him and his girlfriend Heidi (who isn't actually a Lost fan, so I would later compliment her on her tolerance - she's definitely a very nice person lol). So we waited while some TPTB guy chatted with us. He said he'd give us the first clue but then we were on our room. He joked when we asked "is it just in the city centre" about needing to go to the airport and take a flight to get the glyph. "To Sri Lanka?" I added (was funnier at the time...I guess...).

Anyway we heard the clock strike 12 in the distance, and he gave the clue. He said it was to simply speak to a curly-haired man under the pagoda (the pagoda shelter was right next to the arch). OK...I thought, and went up along with about 20 other fans. The man sat there reading the paper and we asked the question (a Chinese lady also sat there looked extremely scared, a crowd of randomers had just walked in hehehe). He then began to pass out what looked like pass-cards. One side had a glyph (no code though) and the words "LOST EXPERIENCE MANCHESTER". The other side said the following, and yes their grammar sucks:

In a park near an area know for mardi gras, find a man that has enabled society to go far. 

Consideration

My first thought was what the hell as Curley gave out more necklace cards. Chris was a bit dumbfounded as well, and got out his map to look for a nearby park. We all stayed under the pagoda as the rain tumbled down, and I noticed the one I thought was Other Girl again. She stood out as she chatted with some of the fans, and seemed the articulate gal I had talked to over the last few months. I plucked up the courage to tap her and ask. Unfortunately, it wasn't her but this girl was a C4 power, and said she was keeping a low profile and only hinted she might actually be under the pagoda somewhere. I said I knew she was cause she told me in an email when answering some of the questions I'd had (like that I had to be back at college by 2!!!), and so the girl acknowledged that. I was a little disappointed, mainly cause the others didn't look like the OG I had imagined. I could have asked the other ladies, but there was a glyph to find!!!

I chatted to Chris and Heidi as they studied their map, and Chris commented that two people had ran immediately after reading their necklaces to find the next clue. "I know I'm a bit sad but god" I thought - must be a TLECer (joke guys! Read on, you get a later good shoutout I promise). So Chris and Heidi were about to go, and I asked if I could tag as I didn't have a map. Very obliging they said yes and for this I really appreciate - I had no hope in hell without them, seriously. So instead of relying on maps at first, we cheated and asked a guy about mardi gras and so by proxy where canal street is (the gay village). With directions in tow be back-tracked past the pagoda once more, and stopped to see if anything was happening as a few peeps were still there. Here I spoke to a couple of other fans, one woman said she was planning to go in the opposite direction we were - maybe she's trying to throw us off the scent I thought, she was kind of saying it a bit weirdly...

We finally set off, and were wished luck by the guy who I'd heard mutter the good turnout words earlier. After what seemed like a long walk in the rain we found canal street and then the park. I found it kinda funny Chris and Heidi were like "now should we ask someone where canal street is?" Yeah, I thought, and make it sound like you're cruisin!

The Old Man

A man that's enabled society to go far? We looked around, then saw a statue on a bench. It wasn't difficult to spot where there was a little sticker with words on, fans who had beaten us to it were already photographing it, and a photographer them! He was apparently doing it for ABC and C4 records, or something like that, and took a shot of us all. So, anyway, the clue - I photoed it but it was hard to make out. Others wrote it down but it was raining so much I just did a cliff notes version in text on my phone. It read something like:

Go to a place that celebrates knowledge and understanding. There, the baby will give the answer. Hurry, you only have until 5pm.

Again with the cryptic. Me, Chris and Heidi thought this over and I think it was Chris who came to the conclusion of the museum (my deduction skills suck). So, we headed off for the museum in the rain, chatting about stuff, the clues, and who Other Girl was (this was more my crazed fan obsession I'll admit). We finally got to the museum of science and industry (I think that was it...).

Lost in the museum?

We went inside, and I must say I thought we were in the wrong place. I didn't see any baby, and had the creeping feeling we should have gone to a different one etc. However, props to Heidi, she saw a woman behind the counter smile as we stood there. We went over and she said the lamest pun in the whole world "you look a bit lost". "Oh don't mess with us like that!" I said. We asked about the baby, and all she said was building 2. So we went down the coridoor as two other fans practically running went outside the building by a side door. We then realised after roaming the room the "baby" was on the second floor, and building two was outside where those other fans had gone. So we headed out and walked down, seeing two other fans leaving the building (they were the ones who'd ran off at the start according to Chris). We went inside this building, and looked around a little aimlessly for a lift or stairs. We asked a guy how to get to the second floor. "You here for that Lost thing" he said, "just go up under the barrier". So we went past the no entry things and headed up to a deserted 2nd floor. It was completely bare, with wooden floors and pillars, kinda spooky. But we soon saw people, through the next room. There was all TPTB people stood chatting, and they said to search the room but "don't touch". We scanned and scanned but all we could find was a huge ancient computer machine, with a modern laptop in front of it. I'm guessing thats "the baby" - but possibly the big comp was called baby lol - I wasn't much for paying attention to that minor detail, as a glyph was on the laptop screen!!! However, there was no code, but after waiting for a while it changed to show the code this time. We wrote half of it, then missed it so had to wait another 5 minutes for it to appear again lol. The cameraman was back, and amused at our pondering. We said "if only we'd just followed you, we would have found this a long while ago!"

So thats how I got the glyph. But there was still some people I wanted to meet.....

The Other Girl

Yep thats right, but who was the Other Girl? As we waited for the glyph the young woman came over. She congratulated us on finding the glyph and then said "oh and you were right before." I knew it had been her! She apologised for the secrecy, but wanted to keep a low profile, which of course I understood (especially after she told me a few things she'd heard about on a board that will remain nameless). So I chatted to her for a minute, rudely cutting off to write down the glyph as it came back up (she understood lol). She spoke a little too loudly, and so was afterwards worried someone might have realised and snapped her. But I don't think anyone did, they seemed more interested in the glyph than some of the workers, and left immediately after they had it. Me, Chris and Heidi, however, stayed and chatted - and I met some of the people behind the game we had played.

First was a young woman. As in the one I thought was pointing in the wrong direction. And here I was thinking she was another player. I apologised and admitted to what I'd thought. She laughed and said she was only trying to give us a push in right direction. Nice lady, very embarassed I didn't pick up on what she'd been trying to insinuate earlier.

Next was the "good turnout" guy who'd wished us luck at the start. He seemed like the boss I think, and we spoke to him. He told us a lot of stuff about the Lost Experience, particularly giving a bit of background. I don't like doing lists, but I'll put some of the stuff I learnt:

• The Lost Experience had begun last October, focusing on the DHARMA background

• There's another act to the Lost Experience. I said I knew HE was #3, but thought #4 and #5 were apollo and WIA respectively. Apparently not. He didn't give any details away, but simply said there's a little more yet. I'll let you guys speculate as to what he meant...

• They all work for Channel 4's team and are pretty much given free reign for where they want to put UK glyphs. OK not a revelation, but nice to clarify that! Boss guy said that he remembered doing an E4 glyph or something at like 3am and two minutes later seeing it'd been found. He also said something about it was he and the team that made the RSS feed or something....dunno what that meant? OG said that it'd taken us a while to find the thisisaknife clue though, which is fair point.

• The HE leaderboard might mean nothing. I asked about this and the boss guy just said he thought it was merely for "the kudos" but said that that was just his opinion, and it didn't really have anything to do with him. So it could possibly mean something, but you'd have to ask ABC my American friends! I told him about times when the glyph is found before the release. He wasn't happy about this, so I added its never happened with a UK-hidden glyph lol. Didn't wanna rain on his parade, and I don't think there has ever been a UK slip-up anyway. He said he'd quote me on that for when he's next speaking to the US people.... He also complimented Lost Ninja on something or other when Chris said he'd once found a glyph on there. Oh, and I also told them about what happened in NYC, apparently they didn't know much much their counterparts had messed up in that part of the game.

• They knew about fansites. We mentioned a few sites, such as Lostpedia which OG herself said was "just awesome". TLEC was also mentioned (the boss guy knew about you guys).

• I found out their names. Anyone whose seen the Season 2 finale will recognise this sequence I'm sure! We were speaking about some other things and the boss said "well I'm sure if you email ________ tomorrow she'll....". "________!!!!" she shouted, as he quickly corrected himself "I mean Other Girl!!!!". Tom and Bea anyone? I would share the names but I really can't, it wouldn't be fair and I was asked to keep my mouth zipped.

• They knew a lot about the old clues. We were asked if we'd done it from the beginning, I said pretty much, but no when the boss proudly talked about the phone line thing (guessin that was his baby?). I said just after that, with all "the breaking strain stuff and everything" as they put it. It was cool that they all followed it, and they were all fans of the show.

• Lastly, thought I'd mention that they were sorry they didn't do anything for Scottish fans, there was a Forbidden planet there but it was a different company.

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So yeah that was it really. Said our goodbyes (was getting a bit uncomfortable just chatting to these near strangers for like 10 minutes) and left. They seemed very happy we'd come, boss guy was worried after all the planning no-one would appear. Pfft this is Lost, but to be fair he did mention "if there's one thing I've learnt its don't underestimate the fans". True that boss man I thought. I said bye to Chris and Heidi, who'd been the guiding stars of the afternoon and headed home. It was only 1pm. So much for all that five hour panicking. I got back to college at 2pm, just in time for the lesson I wasn't supposed to miss. Pure timing on my part.